EPI surround question

Nat · Jul 6, 2011

Just picked up a nice pair of EPI 100s (vinyl) at the dump. The grills were so tightly attached and in such good condition I thought maybe they'd never been removed, but when I removed them, I found one with the foam in terrible shape and one with a rubber surround. Since I've seen the EPI with the two 8 inch modules, one facing forward and the other upward at 45 (or some number of) degrees with butyl surrounds, I know that EPI used them, but I've never seen them myself on the 100s. And going to refoam the foamed one, I found that there was a second set of screw holes, so clearly they had been worked on. And then inspecting the butyl surround one, I noticed that the butyl had some circumferential cracks (so it needed replacing -- take that, anti foam purists!) and that it was mounted on top of a gasket.
Was this how the original butyl surrounds were done? I have my doubts because it seemed to me that there were two different types of glue on the basket when I went to refoam...

rpampt · Jul 6, 2011

I've had 3 pairs of the 100's but they were all foam surrounds. I have/had other models with the rubber surrounds. And yes they do have a double thickness around the edge. Looks kind of odd, but they have all been the same way. You can replace them with a foam surround with no ill effects. Those rubber surrounds get brittle and need changing when they get close to my age anyway.:yes:.

Those 100's sold well for a reason.

dpal · Jul 7, 2011

Any Questions, contact Huw, at humanspeakers.com

mhardy6647 · Jul 7, 2011

Nat said:
Just picked up a nice pair of EPI 100s (vinyl) at the dump. The grills were so tightly attached and in such good condition I thought maybe they'd never been removed, but when I removed them, I found one with the foam in terrible shape and one with a rubber surround. Since I've seen the EPI with the two 8 inch modules, one facing forward and the other upward at 45 (or some number of) degrees with butyl surrounds, I know that EPI used them, but I've never seen them myself on the 100s. And going to refoam the foamed one, I found that there was a second set of screw holes, so clearly they had been worked on. And then inspecting the butyl surround one, I noticed that the butyl had some circumferential cracks (so it needed replacing -- take that, anti foam purists!) and that it was mounted on top of a gasket.
Was this how the original butyl surrounds were done? I have my doubts because it seemed to me that there were two different types of glue on the basket when I went to refoam...

I have a (frozen) EPI 100 woofer downstairs with a rubber surround. I can take a photo or two if I get suitably ambitious.

Andyman · Jul 7, 2011

Nat said:
and that it was mounted on top of a gasket.
Was this how the original butyl surrounds were done?

Green glue?? Yep, they were mounted on top of the gasket.

Years ago, I emailed Winslow Burhoe and he replied that they sourced the woofers from a couple of places and that some had the rubber surround glued on top, and that's good enough for me.

saea501 · Jul 8, 2011

Andyman said:
Green glue?? Yep, they were mounted on top of the gasket.

Years ago, I emailed Winslow Burhoe and he replied that they sourced the woofers from a couple of places and that some had the rubber surround glued on top, and that's good enough for me.

Sourced from a couple places????

That's very odd as I worked for EPI in the early 70s. The woofers, in fact all the drivers were made in house on Charles Street.

In fact, here's a shot of the madness.......

Tetrode · Jul 8, 2011

Maybe he mean't the surrounds were sourced from many places.

mhardy6647 · Jul 8, 2011

A great archival photograph!

Nat · Jul 8, 2011

That's a great photograph -- any more where that came from?
And are you the guy in the photo, saea501?

tensleep · Jul 8, 2011

Thanks for the picture!

saea501 · Jul 9, 2011

No, that's not me......I took the picture.

Here are some more, most of these are from 1972, 73......

Packing area. This is funny as it looks like these guys are working under Winslow's ever seeing eye.....

Notice too, on the wall on the right is a picture of a man and a woman in an embrace. This is an ad that never got much play. Both of them are nude and the tag line reads "The second best reproduction system.....EPI"

Tweeter assembly, complete with monster magnet charger

The greatest speaker designer ever, Winslow......

Mini Tower cabinet assembly

Model 150 frequency sweep. Each speaker was packed with it's individual response graph.

Got crossovers? I think these were for 100s.

Tweeter voice coil assembly

Woofer unit assembly

Here is a model 20 assembly. This was later, probably about 1975

kreichenbach · Jul 9, 2011

Those are great photos!! Thanks for sharing.

mhardy6647 · Jul 9, 2011

These are fantastic! I am going to save copies of them, if you don't mind?

SoundsGood69 · Jul 9, 2011

amazing pics thank you for posting them!!

saea501 · Jul 9, 2011

I don't mind your saving copies for yourself, but I would appreciate them not going any further than you.

I'm glad you guys get a kick out of these. I never posted them before as I guess I figured there just wouldn't be that much interest.

I'll dig around and see if there are others that might be fun.

tensleep · Jul 9, 2011

I am a maintenance supervisor in a manufacturing facility - I love seeing these pictures as they are right up my alley.

luvvinvinyl · Jul 9, 2011

There are a LOT of fans of EPI and Epicure speakers, here on AK, myself included. Still have my M50s, purchased new. Surrounds replaced, caps and resistors replaced, and 5-way posts added, after closing the hole in the back of the cabinet, where the spring clips lived.

My wife still uses them every day, in the living room system.

Thanks, very much, for posting those pictures.

Nat · Jul 11, 2011

What a great bunch of photos! They remind me of the pictures of the factory and workers at IMF which are on display at the IMF website, but yours are even more interesting, since they show more of the actual activity of speaker building.
Many thanks for your sharing them.

shacky · Jul 11, 2011

Wow - love the EPI factory pics. Would love to have you go through my 202's :yes:

EPI surround question

Nat

AK Subscriber

rpampt

Analogeous Vinylitis

dpal

Active Member

mhardy6647

Lunatic Member

Andyman

Scroungus Stereophilus

saea501

Well-Known Member

Tetrode

Active Member

mhardy6647

Lunatic Member

Nat

AK Subscriber

tensleep

Addicted Member

saea501

Well-Known Member

kreichenbach

Super Member

mhardy6647

Lunatic Member

SoundsGood69

Active Member

saea501

Well-Known Member

tensleep

Addicted Member

luvvinvinyl

My best pal, Molly

Nat

AK Subscriber

shacky

AK Subscriber

Similar threads